In article <9012111913.AA07310@cs-sun-fsa.cpsc.ucalgary.ca> you write:>How does one build a hash function with minimal table size and minimal>collisions for a known set of hash strings?

The problem of designing a hash algorithm that maps N identifiers into
unique slots in an N entry table is known as perfect hashing. It has been
studied sporadically over the years. There are algorithms known, but they
are all very slow. Here are some references:

A brief visit to my 40 shelf-feet of computer journals didn't turn up
anything more recent except for some data base applications. If someone
has a breakthrough in perfect hashing to report, I'd love to hear about it.
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Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl
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